Tuesday, July 19, 2016
Simons Foundation Continues Quest to Understand and Treat Autism on Both Ends of the Spectrum
As a researcher, Dr. Ruth Ann Luna knows that subtyping autism—finding all the genetic variables that may lead to a diagnosis—is vital to improve care for Kellen and other autistic children.
That’s why she and her family were the first in Houston to participate in the largest-ever study of autism in the U.S., the Simons Foundation Powering Autism Research for Knowledge (SPARK).
The goal is to gather DNA samples from 50,000 patients and their biological families, allowing scientists to parse genetic data on a hitherto unforeseen scale and, hopefully, find answers for autistic children with hard-to-treat symptoms...